| 1 CD |
|
Notify when available |
| Label Brana Records |
UPC 0821158100820 |
Catalogue number BR 0008 |
Release date 01 December 2008 |
The first performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring? …Beethoven playing his Moonlight Sonata for the first time?
In the absence of time travel, we can only dream of being present at these moments in musical history. It is just such a moment that forms the inspiration for this CD.
On Christmas Eve 1781, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Muzio Clementi took part in a ‘musical playing’ contest in Vienna. Emperor Josef II staged the contest as an entertainment for his guests, the Grand Duke and Duchess of Russia.
The two musicians were called upon to improvise, sight-read and perform selections from their own compositions. The Emperor was unable to decide who was the better performer and so declared the contest a tie.
The event started a rivalry between the two composers that lasted for many years. Shortly after the contest Clementi wrote about Mozart in the most generous terms. For his part, Mozart acknowledged grudgingly Clementi’s technical ability but wrote, “Clementi is a charlatan, like all Italians”.
The rivalry was made worse still when Mozart published Die Zauberflöte. The Overture includes a passage, which undeniably had its origins in Clementi’s earlier Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major. From that date on, Clementi made sure that every publication of his Sonata had a note stating that it was written 10 years before Mozart’s opera.
We’re delighted to extend the rivalry here by presenting piano concertos by both composers and performed by Felicja Blumental.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose actual name is Joannes Chrysotomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a composer, pianist, violinist and conductor from the classical period, born in Salzburg. Mozart was a child prodigy. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. Along with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart is considered to be one of the most influential composers of all of music's history. Within the classical tradition, he was able to develop new musical concepts which left an everlasting impression on all the composers that came after him. Together with Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven he is part of the First Viennese School. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position. From 1763 he traveled with his family through all of Europe for three years and from 1769 he traveled to Italy and France with his father Leopold after which he took residence in Paris. On July 3rd, 1778, his mother passed away and after a short stay in Munich with the Weber family, his father urged him to return to Salzburg, where he was once again hired by the Bishop. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death.
